Evaluation of Jamaica's PATH Program

The government of Jamaica launched its social safety net initiative, the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), in 2001 to better target welfare benefits to the poor and to increase human capital by conditioning receipt of the benefits on requirements for school attendance and health care visits. Our study found that PATH succeeded in targeting benefits to the island’s poorest households and in encouraging households to send their children to school with greater regularity. The program also increased the use of preventive health care for children in PATH families. There was no evidence that PATH affected longer-term outcomes, such as grades, advancement to the next grade, or health care status.